One of our girls has been awarded national colours for rock climbing. Here she is showing off her skills.

We are super proud!

A number of our children are climbing under the guidance of the Mountain Club of South Africa and since 2014 sixteen children from the Durbanville Children’s Home attended training sessions on alternative Friday afternoons. Our youngsters showed excellent progress and five of them were selected to become members of the Top Out Climbing Club. Rock climbing has become a great emotional outlet for some of our children and it has motivated them to become the best at this challenging sport!

Well, now we have some of the very best in the country living under our roof.

One of our fifteen-year old girls has just been awarded her Junior Protea Colours. She has achieved this thanks to coaching by Top Out Climbing Club and the administration of Western Cape Climbing.

We were overwhelmed when we received the following letter from the South African National Climbing Federation:

Congratulations! Following your participation at the National Boulder Series Championship held on 1 and 2 April 2017 at City Rock Cape Town, you have been selected to represent South Africa in Sport Climbing, in the boulder discipline, at the 2017 IFSC Youth World Championship Innsbruck, Austria.

As the SANCF is an official SASCOC member you will be representing South Africa in Junior Protea Colours at this international championship.

She worked so hard for it and we would love to send her to Innsbruck to represent South Africa. Should you like to make a donation please mail Johanna Strauss at jstrauss@durbanvillekinderhuis.org.za, or call her at 021 975 6822.

The team at the Durbanville Children’s Home is back and we are ready to take on 2017.

As usual, we have a few projects that we want to launch this year. First up, we are raising funds for #teamDCH; our children’s running group.

Our children just love running and taking part in any sporting activities. We have a group of young children that, with their social worker, Jessica Johannisen, runs on Mondays and Wednesdays. Throughout 2016 these children have been very dedicated and they have even taken part in two 5km trail runs.

We want to create a Team DCH (Durbanville Children’s Home) and would love to get t-shirts for these young runners.

A one-time orphan, now brilliant athlete, supported a young man from the Durbanville Children’s Home to win a trail run this morning. Johnny Persents is an Adidas Wild Runner. He is an ace cross-country athlete, a former national champion, and he has recently finished the London Marathon in 2:18.

Johnny grew up as an orphan. He still lives in Delft where he works hard to uplift his community.

This morning he chose to support the Durbanville Children’s Home’s Trail Run at D’Aria.

One of the hopefuls who also lined up was Bronwyn George, a young athlete who is growing up in the Children’s Home.

Johnny Persents recognised the young man from a few recent press clippings and decided to test his skills.

The two took the lead and Johnny pushed the youngster hard, testing his ability to read an opponent, to read a race and to understand the mind games that makes a good athlete. So often it is not the athlete with the strongest legs who wins, but is the one with the strongest mind.

Summary? Bronwyn still has a lot to learn, and Johnny wanted the young man to understand that.

In the end he allowed Bronwyn to take the race, but at the finish Johnny’s comment to him was: “Jy weet nog nie hoe om te hardloop nie.” (You do not yet know how to run.)

This, however, is not the end of the story. Johnny has agreed to help shape the young man’s future.

At present Bronwyn receives coaching at school and from Jacques van Rensburg, the husband of Jana van Rensburg who is an assistant at the Durbanville Children’s Home. Negotiations will now begin to see whether Bronwyn can become part of a training group where he can receive support from the likes of Johhny Persents and Elana Meyer.

Monique is a young rock climber from the Durbanville Children’s Home who took part in the National Championships earlier this year. Here she is with Jana van Rensburg who works at the Home. / Monique is ‘n jong rotsklimmer wat in die Durbanville Kinderhuis woon. Sy het onlangs aan die Nasionale Kampioenskappe deelgeneem. By haar is Jana van Rensburg, wat werk by die Kinderhuis.

Thank you for your contribution and support towards our Home and the 144 children in our care.

It is with much appreciation and humbleness that we look back at both an eventful year with many highlights and also a year with challenges that needed to be overcome. Notwithstanding these challenges it has still been a very busy and rewarding year for Durbanville Children’s Home.

We wish you a joyous festive season and all of the best wishes for 2017. May the new year bring you an abundance of blessings and happiness.